Because it’s so rare that students or people in general from another country are proud of their home country.

“It wasn’t just the outspoken conservative politics of the auburn-haired Russian woman that drew the attention of other graduate students at American University. There was also her almost zealous embrace of her homeland. Butina’s cellphone case was emblazoned with a famous photograph of Russian President Vladi­mir Putin riding shirtless on a horse. She would buy friends rounds of vodka at Russia House”Note that while the Washington Post article correctly identifies Butina as an alleged Russian "agent", many others, like the CBS News headline, refer to her as an accused "spy", which is false (the only charge against her, at least for now, is failure to register under the FARA act).

“Iran has positioned cyber weapons to hit private firms and infrastructure…U.S. officials said Iran is making preparations that would enable denial-of-service attacks against thousands of electric grids, water plants, and health care and technology companies in the U.S., Germany, the U.K. and other countries in Europe and the Middle East.” Denial-of-service attacks prevent people from accessing websites; they don’t affect electrical grids.

Stuxnet is finally mentioned…in paragraph 33, after 32 paragraphs of almost entirely speculative accusations against Iran.

The Times puts “proof” in quotes although it refers entirely to simple observable facts, all of which have been reported in the Times, e.g., military buildup, demanding NATO military buildup, expulsion of 60 diplomats, sending arms to Ukraine.

“Games”? They’re trying to overthrow the government. The “game” consisted of trying to put a “snitch jacket” on one of the officials by sanctioning a bunch of top officials EXCEPT him, in order to split the leadership by making them think that one of them is a CIA asset. In other words the same “games” the FBI played with the Black Panthers (just to name one parallel).

What the chip (which is in every Adidas World Cup ball) is is an NFC (Near Field Communications) chip, just like in newer model cellphones which let you use ApplePay or GooglePay and touch your cell phone against something on the counter to pay for your meal. The range of this transmitter (which cannot transmit anything until it is nearby another one) is about two inches! Also it doesn't COLLECT any data at all, it's entirely passive and transmits only what is already inside it (information about Adidas, basically).

But don’t worry… “The SeaQuest is one of at least 10 boats owned by the DeVos family, according to aWall Street Journal analysis of the family's wealth. It can accommodate 12 guests and 12 crew members, according tothe SuperYachtFan website. The DeVos clan also owns at least four planes and two helicopters, the Journal reports.”

Roseanne Barr on her Valerie Jarrett tweet: ‘I was so sad that people thought it was racist’

US admits it "may have" conducted strikes in an area (Al Soussa) where, as the article puts it, dozens of "people" were killed in Syria. Note the headline doesn't even mention dead, just a Syrian "area". Meanwhile Newsweek was the only US media outlet to report the FULL story (BBC also did, but not CNN), which comes from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the major source for all Syrian casualty news, but apparently only when it comes to reporting those killed by the Syrian government. They report at least 54 killed including 28 civilians (more than half of the dead, even assuming the rest were indeed ISIS as alleged).Checked back later in the week, nothing further in the Times and nothing whatsoever, in the Washington Post or CNN. #FakeNewsByOmission

#ThisIsCapitalism Burberry, the upmarket British fashion label, destroyed unsold clothes, accessories and perfume worth £28.6m last year to protect its brand. It takes the total value of goods it has destroyed over the past five years to more than £90m.

Establishment losing their minds over Michael Faul, talking about "turning him over to Russia" when the proposal is to have him (and Browder) questioned IN THE US by US officials with Russians present.

This is insane. ByteGrid is a thoroughly American company; there isn’t a single Russian involved in its operation. “A vendor that provides key services for Maryland elections has been acquired by a parent company with links to a Russian oligarch.” Or “The vendor, ByteGrid LLC, was purchased by a Russian investor in 2015 without knowledge of Maryland state officials.” Which is it?

But even Hamilton 68 says "The #walkaway movement, a campaign highlighting alleged discord among the left, got a boost this week from accounts linked to Russian influence operations." Not Russian "bots", but "accounts linked to Russian influence operations", accounts which are never disclosed.And the data. #Walkaway was indeed the second most common hashtag they tracked, after #Brexit. Quantity? 114 in 48 hours, or 57 times a day. Among 600 accounts. So 1/10th of the accounts they are tracking used that hashtag once a day for the last two days. Wow, that’s some powerful “influence operation”. By the way two days prior, the second most “trending hashtag” among these same 600 accounts was #TreasonSummit. Is that really a hashtag “Russian bots” wanted to spread?

The “turmoil” seems to be not the segregation itself, but that some people are worried that this reveal the true face of Israel a little too openly. The idea that segregation doesn’t already exist in abundance is simply preposterous, and not just the West Bank settlements either. Hebron, for example, is a perfect example, but there are hundreds of others.

Russia not attacking midterms on same 'scale or scope' as in 2016, Nielsen says

By that she means, not at all. There isn’t a shred of evidence for something she and many others have either been predicting or claiming was already (E.g., Dan Coats) happening for months now. Not a shred.

CANDIDATES FOR “FUNNIEST”:

*People are donating money to Kylie Jenner to help her become the world's youngest female billionaire

GoFundMe description: “This is heartbreaking. I don't want to live in a world where Kylie Jenner doesn't have a billion dollars. We must raise 100 million dollars to help her get to a billion, please spread the word, this is extremely important."

This is a spoof (although real) (or a scam, no indication of where the money goes) but some are donating $ (not including “Fat Jew” who started the campaign!) Total raised so far? $2271! A little bit short of the $100 million she needs.

Actually a classic capitalist story worth telling: “Jenner, 20, the youngest member of the Kardashian-Jenner American reality TV family, is the founder and sole owner of Kylie Cosmetics, the makeup company she runs largely from her black iPhone X, with the help of her mother Kris. Employing just seven full-time staff.

The business is almost totally outsourced. Jenner does not directly make her products, nor does she sell them. Jenner also does not have to worry much about the business’s finances or the day-to-day management of her 12 staff (seven full-time, five part-time). Those matters are outsourced to her mom or “momager” Kris Jenner, who manages all her children’s financial operations – in return for a 10% cut.

*Employers will do almost anything to find workers to fill jobs — except pay them more

From a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter with a regular column in the LA Times: “Of all the addictions that undermine stability in communities and society at large, surely one of the worst and most persistent is the addiction of corporate managements to pleasing their shareholders.Billions of dollars are funneled to owners of capital in the form of dividends and stock buybacks, while laborers go begging for even the measliest wage increases.”

And who’s going to tell us? An actual socialist? No, Conservative George Will, who seems to think socialism is a combination of social democracy with all the worst features of American government. He doesn’t seem to understand that a government free of corporate influence on its decisions will make very different decisions.

Decent article, but the headline is clearly written to sensationalize and trivialize. Zero mention of groups like labor unions, Momentum or SWP who will undoubtedly be organizing the vast majority of the 50,000 expected, just Vegans against Trump and Trumpeters against Trump.

*Pompeo Sharpens Tone on North Korea: ‘The World Is a Gangster’

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo shot back at North Korean officials for characterizing American diplomatic behavior as gangster-like, saying on Sunday that if that were true, then “the world is a gangster”. Actually he's correct, if he's using "world" in the same sense that American media and politicians use the phrase "world opinion", which actually means "the opinion of the governments of the imperialist countries". So yes, that world is a "gangster", no question.

A Dennis Ross op-ed, the latest chapter that started with the “Who lost China” saga 70 years ago. Doesn’t get any grosser. Syria is not “ours” to give, and, in addition, we gave it not to “Russia” but to “Putin”. Really? It’s now his personal property? And interestingly, the original headline read “Both Obama and Trump let Putin have his way in Syria. Now what?” Did some editor change it to avoid blaming Obama and focus only on Trump?

North Korea reportedly ramps up nuke production at secret sites

To begin with, the claim is of ramped up enriched uranium production, not “nuke” production. And of course the entire article is based on claims by anonymous “officials” and alleged “assessments” by US intelligence agencies (more than one?). The Deep State strikes back.

As Bolton Says North Korea Could Disarm in a Year, Reality Lags Promises

There were no “promises” made by the DPRK in Singapore. There was a commitment to a process that would lead to concrete steps on BOTH sides. The US press acts as if the DPRK agreed to unilaterally denuclearize or even “disarm”. They didn’t.

Trump and Mexico’s New Leader, Both Headstrong, Begin With a ‘Good Conversation’

Who says so? Trump. But the Times will put the claim in a headline without proof, despite Trump’s record for bullshit. Also again we have the “Lopez Obrador is similar to Trump” meme which has been widely repeated in the media, rather than the more accurate AMLO is like Sanders or Corbyn.

Is This the Year Women Break the Rules and Win?Subhead: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s victory may be more one-off than wave, but her stunning win has raised hopes for other female candidates.

For years, a U.S. Postal Service stamp mistakenly bore the image of a Lady Liberty replica. That statue welcomes visitors to the New York-New York Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, and between 2010 and 2014, it earned the postal service over $70 million in profits. Last week, Las Vegas sculptor Robert Davidson was awarded $3.5 million from the postal service in a lawsuit.

Trump wants to Finlandize the United States

Start of the article (a Max Boot column): “Finlandization. Noun. The process whereby a country is induced to favor, or refrain from opposing, the interests of a more powerful country, despite not being politically allied to it.” Soooo…huh?

Al Shabaab bans single use plastic bags because of 'threat to people and livestock'